Julian A. Brodsky (born July 16, 1933) is an American businessman, the co-founder of

Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

and served as its chief financial officer and

vice chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

. He also served as co-founder and chair of Comcast Interactive Capital, Comcast's venture capital unit now called

Comcast Ventures Comcast Ventures was a corporate venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. History In early 2011, Comcast and NBCUniversal combined their two venture arms, Comcast Interactive Capital founded in 1999 and the Peacock Fund, ...

Early life and education

Brodsky was raised in a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and graduated from the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He served two years in the United States Army before training as an accountant.

Career

In 1963, Brodsky joined one of his clients, Ralph J. Roberts, and Roberts' adviser, Daniel Aaron, to purchase a 1,200-subscriber cable TV operator in

Tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

, Mississippi called American Cable Systems. They incorporated in 1969 as

, a name Roberts invented by combining the words ''communications'' and ''broadcasting''. The partners became a powerful leadership team with a style described as a threesome driving a car with Brodsky stepping on the gas by raising the necessary capital for growth, Aaron with his foot on the brakes to ensure effective operations, and Roberts with his hands on the steering wheel as CEO.

References

External links

Cable Center Oral History2003 Cable Hall of Fame Induction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodsky, Julian A. 1933 births Living people American corporate directors Jewish American military personnel American technology company founders Comcast people American cable television company founders Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni United States Army soldiers Businesspeople from Philadelphia American chief financial officers